Human bombs and human error

As a fuller picture of the Coimbatore blasts of February 14 emerges, the
blame is shifted to individual police officers who failed to act in time.

T.S. SUBRAMANIAN in Chennai

WERE human bombs kept ready to kill L.K. Advani on February 14 at R.S. Puram,
Coimbatore, where he was to address a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election
meeting? This question had generated a controversy after the serial blasts
in the city with Advani asserting that he was the target of a human bomb
and top State police officers denying the presence of any human bomb at the
venue of the meeting that day. Now, after more than two months of investigation
by the Crime Branch-Criminial Investigation Depart-ment (CB-CID) of the Tamil
Nadu Police, a definitive answer is available: there were three human bombs
targeting Advani that day.

Informed police sources identified them as Amjad Ali (19) of Melapalayam,
near Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu; Mohammed Jameshah (22) of N.H. Road, Coimbatore;
and Amanullah (22), also of Melapalayam. All of them belong to Al-Umma, a
Muslim fundamentalist organisation. According to the police, the bomb blasts
in Coimbatore on February 14 "were planned and executed" by Al-Umma and
"masterminded by its leader S.A. Basha as a retaliation for the killing of
19 Muslims in Coimbatore on November 30/December 1, 1997."

While Amjad Ali and Mohammed Jameshah have been arrested, Amanullah is
absconding. Sources in the police said that the three wore belt bombs that
contained the explosive PETN. The bombs were designed by Basit, also of
Melapalayam. Basit, who is absconding, is an associate of Basha. The belt
bomb, according to the police, was "fixed" by M. Mohammed Ansari, the
second-in-command of Basha. They believe that the explosives were supplied
by "Karate" Raju who belongs to Kerala. A deserter from the Assam Rifles,
Raju could have got the PETN from the insurgency-affected northeastern region
of the country, the sources said.

According to the sources, Amjad Ali was specifically detailed to target Advani
and Mohammed Jameshah and Amanullah were stand-bys. One source said: "They
were seated at the meeting place but were not able to go near the dais because
of the police cordon. They were about 400 metres from the dais. There were
others meant for back-up."

The plan to target Advani failed because his aircraft landed late in Coimbatore.
Meanwhile, the bombs placed by Al-Umma in cars, two-wheelers and fruit carts
went off around the venue of the meeting and at different places in the city,
killing about 50 persons. There was rank confusion around the venue and Amjad
Ali fled.

K. ANANTHAN Bomb disposal
experts examining a fruit cart that was laden with explosives, near the venue
of the meeting that BJP president L.K. Advani was to address in Coimbatore
on February 14.

In a meticulous investigation, the CB-CID, headed by Inspector-General of
Police Param Vir Singh, has cracked the conspiracy behind the bomb blasts.
Out of 167 persons identified as involved in the conspiracy, 110 have been
arrested. They include S.A. Basha (48), Al-Umma's acting president Tajuddin
(38) and leader of the Islamic Defence Force (IDF) Ali Abdulla. A search
is on for other top members of Al-Umma, such as Mohammed Ansari, Basha's
son Siddiq Ali, Zubair and Zakir Hussain, and top IDF leader Erwadi Kasim
alias Mohammed Kasim. Erwadi Kasim allegedly masterminded the blasts on December
6, 1997 on three trains that left Chennai, which killed nine passengers and
injured about 70.

Tajuddin (38) had taken over as the acting president of Al-Umma in place
of Basha in October 1997. According to the police, Tajuddin had met the chairman
of the People's Democratic Party, Abdul Nasser Mahdani, in Kerala, and through
him, Raju. Mahdani was arrested by the Kerala Police on March 31 at Kochi
and he is now in judicial custody in Coimbatore.

IN a White Paper presented in the State Assembly on April 23, Tamil Nadu
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi announced that his Government had decided to
constitute a special court in consultation with the Madras High Court to
try the cases connected with the Coimbatore blasts. The White Paper said
that the State Government would enact new legislation to neutralise the
extremists. A request had been sent to the Centre on March 18 to ban Al-Umma
and the Jihad Committee on an all-India basis because they operated in other
States also, it added. (The Tamil Nadu Government banned both the organisations
within a few hours of the blasts.)

According to the White Paper, the blasts were carried out "as a measure of
revenge for the losses suffered by the Muslims" between November 29 and December
2, 1997 when 18 Muslims and four Hindus were killed in the aftermath of the
killing of police constable R. Selvaraj at Kottaimedu, Coimbatore, allegedly
by Al-Umma activists. It added that senior police officers of Coimbatore,
including the then Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City (Nanjil G. Kumaran),
had failed to prevent the blasts even after the Government had sent them
several messages about Muslim extremists planning to set off bombs.

The White Paper, which listed all cases of bomb blasts in the State from
1984, said that events that marred the reputation of Tamil Nadu as "a shining
example of communal harmony" started taking place 15 years ago. Provocative
speeches made by some persons offended the religious sentiments of others.
Conflicts arose when processions of followers of one religion passed in front
of the places of worship of another. The demolition of the Babri Masjid in
December 1992 "greatly upset the Muslims in Tamil Nadu and led to the spread
of religious fundamentalism" in the State, it said. Explosions at the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) building in August 1993 and at the Hindu Munnani
office in April 1995, both in Chennai, occurred in this background, it pointed
out. The White Paper added that investigations disclosed that the murder
of constable Selvaraj in Coimbatore on November 29, 1997 and the death of
18 Muslims in the violence that ensued were "the cause for the bomb blasts
in February 1998".

The White Paper listed the series of alerts that the State Government had
sent to senior police officers in Coimbatore. A Central Government agency,
in a letter dated December 21, 1997, had warned that Basha had instructed
his followers to launch counter-attacks on the outskirts of Coimbatore and
that police stations, the Police Commissioner's Office and gas tankers might
be targeted. The State intelligence alerted the Coimbatore City Police
Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore district.

Again, on January 2, 1998, information was received from a Central agency
that Al-Umma planned to attack leaders of Hindu organisations and police
officers and create disturbances at Kottaimedu. This information was conveyed
to the Police Commissioner and protection was given to activists of some
Hindu organisations. A Central agency sent a report on January 19 that Al-Umma
men had approached Erwadi Kasim for explosives. On January 23, the Union
Home Ministry sent a message that Al-Umma had planned to explode bombs in
Coimbatore in the name of the IDF. The police officers in Coimbatore were
informed about these too.

The State intelligence sent 12 alerts to the Commissioner of Police between
December 3, 1997 and February 10, 1998 on the likelihood of attacks on police
officers, police quarters, vehicles and installations of the Indian Oil
Corporation and Bharat Petroleum. The White Paper said, "Disciplinary action
for major penalty has been initiated against the concerned officers, including
the then COP, Coimbatore, for their failure to prevent the bomb blasts in
spite of many warnings by the Government."

It added that in the light of information that bombs could be used, the
Director-General of Police had sent alerts to all the Commissioners of Police
and Superintendents of Police. on January 1, 9 and 10. In the background
of these messages, 81 persons were arrested in different parts of the State
until February 13. About 2,000 country bombs, 586 gelatine sticks, 1,595
detonators, eight unlicensed guns and two unlicensed revolvers were seized.
But no seizures were effected in Coimbatore city during this period, the
White Paper said.

In Chennai city, 1,042 electric detonators, 1,022 ordinary detonators, five
country bombs, 37 petrol bombs, 187 gelatine sticks, one time bomb, two tin
bombs, 12 box bombs, three unlicensed revolvers and three pipe bombs were
seized. The White Paper said: "The facts narrated so far will make it crystal
clear that the State Government has never brooked terrorism."

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and former Chief Minister
Jayalalitha reacted sharply to the White Paper. She said, "The Government
only says it sent out alerts. It does not seem that it gave orders that action
be taken against the extremists... What is clear from this is that an inefficient
Government that cannot take preventive action is ruling Tamil Nadu."

Jayalalitha called it a "black paper" and said that it was nothing but
Karunanidhi's speeches and statements "strung together with some deletions
and suppression." The White Paper had been issued only to cover up the
allegations against Karunanidhi and his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government,
Jayalalitha said.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana said that the White
Paper contained only "half-truths". He demanded a complete report on the
fundamentalists' activities in the State since 1980 because "the whole story
started from the mass conversion that took place at Meenakshipuram, near
Tirunelveli, in 1980."